


In A World Full Of Wrong (You're The Thing That's Right)

by LiveLaughLoveLarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Again, Angst, Background Character Death, Doctor Harry, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hunter Louis, Lottie is great, M/M, Past Character Death, Vampire Harry, Violence, captain niall, no one who does anything in the story, so is Jay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-25 19:11:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4972939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLoveLarry/pseuds/LiveLaughLoveLarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is a vampire. Louis is a vampire Hunter. This sounds like a bad idea already, doesn’t it? Yeah, it probably was. Feat. Vampire!Zayn and obliviously normal human Niall. When Niall is the most normal person in your life, you know you have problems.</p><div class="center">
  <p>~*~*~</p>
</div><em>Niall tapped him on the forehead. “He’s not lost, dipshit. It’s just an excuse.”</em> <p>  <em>Harry was well and truly baffled. “Excuse? I – what?”</em></p><p>  <em>“He doesn’t ask anyone else to show him the way.”</em></p><p>  <em>Harry blinked. “Just me?”</em></p><p>  <em>“Just you.”</em></p><p>  <em>“But – why?”</em></p><p>  <em>Niall gave him a look. “Do I really have to spell it out for you?” He poked Harry in the chest. “He likes you.”</em> </p><p>  <em>“No way!” Harry said. Then, “Really?”</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	In A World Full Of Wrong (You're The Thing That's Right)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dick/gifts).



> This was a very different story from what I'm used to but, it was a fun challenge. I changed a lot of the details from the prompt, but the main premise and plot points stayed intact. Happy reading!
> 
> Title from Terrified by Katharine McPhee

Harry was arranging his schedule when his life changed. It was always a somewhat delicate process, as people would ask questions if they realized he regularly worked sixteen hour days. And then there would be explaining or lying or any number of unsavory actions to take care of. Not sleeping had its perks, and he loved being able to help people, but the secrecy did complicate things.

He and his boss, Nurse Deakin, were just finishing up when there was a knock on the door. They both looked towards it.

“Come in,” Jay called. There was a momentary pause, and then the door swung open to reveal a battered young man. Despite his numerous injuries – at least sixteen assorted lacerations that Harry could see, and that was just on his front – the man wore a grin, and his eyes snapped with life and energy.

“Sorry to interrupt,” the man said, nodding towards Harry.

“Not at all!” Jay said, rising. “It’s good to see you, Louis.” She moved around the desk, taking his face in her hands as she studied him. “You look a fright,” she said, her tone more scolding than concerned.

Louis shrugged. “Comes with the territory,” he said. “I wouldn’t have come in for the scrapes, but I twisted my ankle pretty well.”

“You’re welcome any time, you know that Louis,” Jay said. “I didn’t know you were back in town, though.”

“Just got in yesterday,” Louis said. “I would have dropped by, but I was…” He paused, glancing over Jay’s shoulder at Harry. “Busy.”

Jay turned to look at Harry, seeming to have quite forgotten he was in the room. She smiled at him. “I’m sorry, Harry, I didn’t mean to ignore you,” she said. “This is my son, Louis. He’s been out of town for – what, a year and a half?”

Louis shrugged. “Something like that.”

“And Louis, this is Dr. Styles, one of my most valued employees.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Harry said, standing and extending a hand. Louis took it, his grip firm, his grin never faltering.

“Likewise.”

“Harry, could you see to Louis’ – injuries?” Jay asked. “I know we were in the middle of something, but-”

“Of course,” Harry said. “It’s no trouble.”

“Thank you,” Jay said. “I appreciate it.”

Harry waved away her thanks. “I’m just doing my job."

As they walked down the hall towards the treatment rooms, Harry could see that Louis was limping badly. He didn’t complain, but he winced every time his left foot touched the floor.

“Right,” Harry said when they reached the end of the hall. “You’re taking a wheelchair the rest of the way.” He pulled a set of keys from a pocket of his coat and unlocked the supply closet they stood next to.

“I’d argue with you,” Louis said wryly, “but I think if I tried to walk the rest of the way I’d fall down.”

“Good choice,” Harry said, pulling a collapsible wheelchair from the closet and unfolding it. He patted the back. “Have a seat.”

Louis obeyed, sagging into the chair. He let out a sigh of relief as the weight came off his injured foot. Harry chuckled and began to push the chair forward.

“Comfy?” he asked.

“Not especially,” Louis said. “But compared to the alternative, it’s a five star hotel.”

“It’s a chair,” Harry said. “Not a hotel.”

“Details,” Louis said, flapping a hand in the air. “Drive on, chauffeur.”

Harry shook his head but didn’t comment, a small smile quirking up his lips on one side. He wheeled the chair into an empty treatment room and positioned it next to the examination table before setting the brakes.

“Do you need any help getting onto the table?” Harry asked.

“I think I can manage that much,” Louis said, levering himself to his feet. He boosted himself onto the table as Harry pulled on a pair of latex gloves. Louis swung his legs up onto the table and leaned back, settling his head on the thin pillow. “Fix me up, doc.”

Harry chuckled as his hands skimmed over Louis’ injured leg. It was swollen and warm to the touch, but it didn’t feel broken. He turned his attention to the cuts that littered Louis’ body. Some were run of the mill cuts and scrapes that could have been caused by any number of things. Others – his eyes widened slightly as he recognized the semicircle shape of the marks, though he said nothing. Those were vamp bites; he’d know them anywhere. So this was why Jay had assigned him to treat Louis.

“Please remove your clothes,” he said, turning to open his personal medical bag.

Louis chuckled. “You could at least buy me dinner first.”

Harry glanced back. “I meant-”

“I know what you meant.” Louis sat up with a groan and tugged off his shirt before Harry could turn back to his bag, and he found himself momentarily distracted.

Louis was seriously fit. His entire torso was packed with muscle, though not in a bodybuilder kind of way. He was still lean, everything about him compact but powerful.

Harry looked away as Louis unbuttoned his jeans, digging through his bag to locate a black leather pouch. Removing a vial of clear liquid, he twisted off the cap and poured a small amount onto a gauze pad.

“This will hurt,” he warned, and pressed the pad to the worst of the bite marks. Louis’ eyes went wide and he stiffened, but he didn’t move or cry out. Harry was impressed. The solution was one he prepared himself, and was nearly as potent as humans could withstand. His estimation of the man rose another notch.

“What is that stuff?” Louis asked when Harry had finished cleaning the bites. His face was damp with sweat, and Harry could see fingernail marks on his palms, but he hadn’t made a sound all through the procedure.

“Antiseptic,” Harry said simply. “Very strong. Some ingredients to help speed healing as well; the wounds should disappear by the end of the week.”

Louis let out a low whistle. “Useful stuff,” he said. “I don’t suppose you could spare some?”

Harry handed over the rest of the vial before he thought to wonder what he could possibly want with it. A wrinkle momentarily appeared between his brows, but he blinked it away.

“I don’t think your ankle is broken,” he said, “but we should X-ray it just to make sure. Is that all right with you, Mr. Deakin?”

“Just peachy,” Louis replied. “But – my name isn’t actually Deakin.”

“It isn’t?” Harry winced. “I’m sorry, I just assumed-”

“It’s fine,” Louis assured him. “Deakin is my stepfather’s name. I go by Tomlinson.”

Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson. Harry’s eyes widened, and for a moment he quite forgot to breathe. He knew that name. Every vampire did, along with most humans who knew of their existence. Louis Tomlinson was a Hunter, one of the best. He’d destroyed well over a hundred vampires in the eight years since he started, no mean feat. They said he was ruthless, that once he had a quarry in his sights, no one could escape him. His was the kind of name vampires spoke in hushed whispers, as though just voicing it might attract his attention. With their increased strength, speed, and near immortality, vampires didn’t fear much, but they feared Louis Tomlinson.

“You’re-” Harry’s breath ran out, and he inhaled. Louis quirked an eyebrow at him.

“I’m what?”

Harry schooled his expression into neutrality before answering. “Your X-rays shouldn’t take long, Mr. Tomlinson,” he said. “In fact, I’ll go see the technician now.”

“I don’t want any special treatment just because I’m the boss’ son,” Louis said, drawing himself up. Harry smiled tightly. He wanted out of the room, now.

“Not at all,” he said. “We aren’t very busy tonight. You can get dressed while I set things up.” He was out the door before Louis could say another word. It was only half a lie, technically – they weren’t busy, but the wait for X-rays was nevertheless usually a lengthy one, for various reasons that Harry had never really understood. One of the privileges of being a long-term doctor, however, was being friends with all the staff. And being able to pull a few strings.

“Hey, Niall,” he said as he strode into the lab. In a practiced move, Niall pushed off the desk with one foot, swiveling his chair around smoothly to face Harry.

“Hiya, Harry,” he said. “What’s up?”

“Jay’s son is here,” Harry said, “and he needs an X-ray. I was wondering-”

“If I could stall it?” Niall completed with a good-natured grin. “Of course.”

“What? No!” Harry said. “Why would I want that?”

“Word round the campfire is that our dear boss’ eldest son is – oh, what is the word? Ah yes.” Niall’s grin widened. “Smokin’.”

“He does smoke,” Harry noted.

Niall frowned. “Not in this hospital. Jay would skin him, son or not.”

“No, no, of course not,” Harry said quickly. “I just – his clothes smelled of it, a bit.” Another half-truth. It wasn’t Louis’ clothes that smelled of cigarette smoke, it was Louis himself. Faintly, not enough to suggest that he smoked often, or even that he’d smoked that day, but it was there. A human nose could never have picked up on it, but Harry wasn’t human. Not that Niall knew that.

“Anyway,” Harry said, “I was actually going to ask you to speed up the process.”

“That’s… disappointing,” Niall said. “Why?”

Shit. “Well, Jay said he’d been out of town for months,” Harry improvised. “They must be eager to catch up.”

Niall studied him. If he could have, Harry would have been sweating. He didn’t like lying, and even just deceiving people made him feel dirty. His whole life was a carefully constructed falsehood, but even though he’d been at it for nearly four hundred years, he still felt guilty.

“Fine,” Niall said at last. “But let the record show that I do not understand you.”

“I know,” Harry said, and he did. He really did. “I’ll leave you to it, then. He’s in treatment room six when you’re ready for him.” He left the room, turning away from where he’d left Louis and heading instead for his office. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, shutting it behind him before settling into his chair with a sigh of relief.

Well.

That had been unexpected.

A battered but undeniably attractive young man who turned out to be his boss’ son and also a famous Hunter who had it out for his species, none of which Jay had ever mentioned to him. And Harry had treated him. Harry had given him vamp-bite ointment, given it to someone who would gladly have stabbed him through the heart.

Would he really have, though? Harry wasn’t sure. Jay was Louis’ mother, after all, and she had never had a problem with Harry. Could there really be that dramatic a disparity between them? And Louis didn’t seem the murderous type – Harry would have expected such a person to be dark and quiet and brooding, not cheerful and funny. He would have expected coldness, but Louis had to be the least cold person he’d ever met.

He had no idea what to make of any of it.

He’d wanted to leave as soon as he’d realized who Louis was, but it hadn’t been from fear – at least, not entirely. He’d been – confused.

He still was.

Harry sighed and leaned back in his chair, tipping his head backwards. His hair swung loose as he stared out the window. It was dark, morning still a ways off, but Harry could see the park across the road, with its few benches and intermittent trees almost as clearly as if it was high noon. It was a view that usually calmed him, but tonight it did nothing. It just looked empty. Lonely, even.

He sat up, looking away from the window and turning to a stack of folders on his desk. Work now, existential crisis later. If he was being productive, then maybe he could deny that he was hiding. And given that he wasn’t really sure what he was hiding from, denial seemed like an excellent course of action. He opened the top file and began to read.

~*~*~

“Morning, Dr. Styles!”

Harry’s head jerked up from the clipboard he was writing on at the sound of the voice. His eyes immediately found the smiling form of Louis Tomlinson striding down the hallway. Louis waved with one hand, the other slotted into his pocket.

“Hello, Mr. Tomlinson,” Harry said, keeping his face carefully neutral. He hoped the pause before he said ‘Tomlinson’ had been too short for human ears to detect. “Looks like your ankle is feeling better.”

“Right as rain,” Louis said. “Thanks, doc!” He stopped as he reached Harry. “My mother in?”

“I think she’s in her office,” Harry said. Louis didn’t move. “You know where that is?”

“I think so,” Louis said. “I’ve been here often enough. It’s down this hall and to the left, right?”

“Um.” Even setting aside the confusing ‘left, right,’ the section of the building they were in didn’t even have any offices. “No, it’s over by the cafeteria.”

“Really?” Louis said. “I was sure it was this way.”

“You’re way off,” Harry said with a shake of his head. “This isn’t even the right wing.”

“Damn,” Louis said. “I’m a shit navigator.” He glanced at Harry. “Could you show me the way?”

That was – well. That was a completely reasonable request, if only they weren’t... y’know. Mortal enemies. Or something. Harry didn’t know what to think, let alone what to say. After a moment, he realized that he’d been silent a bit too long.

“Um, sure,” he blurted, and then silently cursed himself for having such agreeable instincts.

“Great!” Louis said, oblivious. “You’d think I’d know my way around here by now, but I just can’t seem to keep it all straight.”

“It is a big place,” Harry said. “Come on, it’s this way.”

“Have you worked here long?” Louis asked as they began walking.

Harry shrugged. “A few years,” he said, knowing he looked too young to have been working much longer.

“Do you enjoy it?”

“Of course,” Harry said. “I love helping people. I feel like – it’s my way of balancing out the cosmic ledger.”

Louis smiled. “Poetic.”

“Oh, be quiet,” Harry said, laughing. “I mean it.”

“So do I,” Louis said. “I like it. It’s a noble cause.”

The conversation stalled, and Harry opened his mouth to ask about Louis’ job, but caught himself. He didn’t want to go there. He wracked his brain for a safer subject.

“Jay doesn’t talk about her family much,” he said at last. “Do you have any siblings?”

Something flashed over Louis’ face, but it cleared almost instantly. Apparently that hadn’t been a safe topic either. “Just one,” he said. “My sister, Lottie. Oh look, there’s mom’s office now.”

The ending felt abrupt to Harry, but as Louis smiled at him he couldn’t help but smile back. “See you around?” he said.

Louis’ grin widened, becoming more genuine. “Hope so,” he said.

~*~*~

“I swear,” Harry told Niall as they lounged in the break room. “Louis has to be the single worst navigator I’ve ever seen.”

“What do you mean?” Niall asked.

“I must have shown him the way to his mother’s office four or five times by now, but he still gets lost.” Harry shook his head. “And he’s never anywhere near it. I found him near the maternity ward today, Ni, the maternity ward! That’s, like, as far away as you can get! I don’t mind showing him, he’s fun to talk to, but he can’t find his way to save his life.”

Niall was giving him an odd look.

“What?” Harry asked.

“You’re not serious, are you?”

“Am I – what?” Harry shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

“Jay has worked here for six years,” Niall said. His voice was not unlike that which one might use to address a small child, which Harry thought was unfair. “Louis knows his way around.”

“He really doesn’t,” Harry said. “Which part of he was next to the maternity ward did you miss?”

“The last time he visited you were away on that neurotoxicity conference,” Niall said. “He came by a few times. Never got lost, never needed directions.”

“Really?” Harry asked. “Then why does he keep getting lost now?”

Niall tapped him on the forehead. “He’s not lost, dipshit. It’s just an excuse.”

Harry was well and truly baffled. “Excuse? I – what?”

“He doesn’t ask anyone else to show him the way.”

Harry blinked. “Just me?”

“Just you.”

“But – why?”

Niall gave him a look. “Do I really have to spell it out for you?” He poked Harry in the chest. “He likes you.”

“No way!” Harry said. Then, “Really?”

“Would I lie?”

“Yes.”

“Fair,” Niall admitted. “But yes, really.”

Harry frowned. “But… why?” he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. “I’m not…”

“Not what?” Niall asked

“I don’t know,” Harry said, though he did know. “Not what I would have expected him to go for, I guess.”

“What did you think his type was?” Niall asked. “You’re hot, you’re nice, what more could a guy ask for?”

“What standards,” Harry deadpanned. “But seriously, Niall, I really doubt he’s into me.”

Niall shrugged. “Believe what you like,” he said. “But you’ll see. I have a sixth sense about these things.”

“Really?” Harry said again.

“Your skepticism wounds me,” Niall said. “Mark my words, he’ll ask you out by the end of the week.”

Harry just shook his head.

~*~*~

The next day, Harry was walking down the hallway when an office door a few meters in front of him swung open, and Louis stepped out. Harry waved a greeting.

“Found it on your own this time?” he asked, indicating the office.

Louis glanced at the door, looking almost surprised that it did indeed read “Johannah Deakin, Head Nurse”.

“Oh, um, yeah,” he said. “I guess so.”

“Finally getting your bearings, then?”

“Something like that.” Louis shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his eyes darting from side to side. Harry watched, his head tilted slightly.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “You seem…”

“Yeah, fine, fine,” Louis said. He looked even more nervous now. “Just, um, I was wondering – like, if you want, I mean – that is, would you like to go to a movie with me?”

Harry was sure his surprise showed on his face. Niall had been right after all. Nothing against Niall, just… well, this had been a long shot.

“Oh, um, I don’t know,” he said. He was torn. He liked Louis, he really did, in spite of his… occupation, but, well, to say it seemed like a bad idea was an understatement. Even if Louis didn’t, someone would be sure to have a problem with a Hunter dating a vampire. Heck, Louis might have a problem with it – did he even know?

He probably didn’t. Harry winced slightly. That was – he couldn’t in good conscience agree to anything when Louis had no idea who – or what – he was asking. He didn’t want to deceive him. But he also didn’t want to tell him. At least, not himself.

“Have you talked to your mother about this?” he asked at last. “I don’t…”

“I don’t need my mother’s permission to date someone,” Louis said with a laugh. “Even if the person in question is one of her favourite employees.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Harry said. “There’s something… she can explain it better than I can.”

“I told you-”

“Just promise me you’ll talk to her, okay?” Harry interrupted. “It might… it might change things. If it does, well…” His mouth was dry. He swallowed. “I’ll understand.”

Louis regarded him for a moment. “Okay,” he said, drawing out the word slightly. “And if it doesn’t?”

Harry smiled, though his throat was tight. “If it doesn’t,” he said, “if you still want to afterward, I would love to see a movie with you.”

He turned to walk away, blinking hard against tears that wouldn’t – that couldn’t fall.

“Hey!” Louis called after him. Harry stopped. “How do I contact you?”

“Your mother has my cell,” he said. “You can get it from her.” If he still wanted it.

Silence was all that followed. After a moment, Harry began to walk again. When he turned the corner, he could just see Louis out of the corner of his eye, still standing in front of his mother’s office.

~*~*~

The automatic doors slid open and Harry stepped out into the parking lot. He tugged the collar of his coat a bit higher against the wind, his eyes scanning the area. It didn’t take him long to spot Louis waving to him from where he leaned against a parked car. Harry smiled and began to make his way over.

Louis had called him the day after their awkward meeting in the hallway. When he’d repeated his offer of a movie, Harry had smiled so hard he thought his face might split in two.

They’d agreed on to meet after Harry got off work and head to a small theater nearby. They made idle conversation as they walked; friends, the weather, the movie they were seeing. Harry didn’t know much about it – he didn’t get out much, preferring his job at the hospital – but Louis said it was supposed to be fairly good. When they arrived at the theater, Louis bought the tickets, and Harry bought the popcorn, a small bag that rested in Louis’ lap for most of the film.

The date went well. It went really well, and Harry was buzzing as they walked down the silent street, the movie over and the other patrons scattered to their distant homes. There was no one in sight, the hour too late and the weather too cold for anyone to want to be out and about. Flickering streetlights provided the only illumination.

They said nothing, but their hands swung between them, fingers interlaced. Harry’s breath came a little faster each time he noticed. Holding hands, they were holding hands. Louis had initiated, taking his hand almost as soon as they’d left the theater. It had been crowded then, and not losing each other in the melee was a perfectly valid reason, but he hadn’t let go, and neither had Harry.

They weren’t really going anywhere, just wandering down the dark and deserted streets, but Harry loved it. He glanced over at Louis beside him. He was smiling, his eyes trained on the pavement in front of their feet, his cheeks slightly flushed. Harry realized with a start that Louis was shivering slightly.

He stopped, pulling his hand from Louis’. The air was cold where Louis’ fingers had been warm as he tugged off his long coat and handed it to Louis.

“Here,” he said.

Louis stared at him. “What are you doing?”

“Put it on,” Harry said. “You’re shivering.”

“I’m fine,” Louis insisted, but Harry could see the hunger in his eyes as he glanced at the coat. “I don’t want to make you cold.”

“I don’t get cold,” Harry said. “I just like the coat.”

Louis still didn’t take the coat, so Harry sighed and draped it over his shoulders. It was too long on him, reaching past his knees, but the material was thick and Louis reached up to tug it tighter around him.

“You do know what sleeves are for, right?” Harry asked after a moment. “You put your arms in them, and they-”

“Oh, shut it,” Louis said, but he was smiling. Still, he didn’t put his arms through the sleeves. On further consideration, if the coat was too long, the sleeves certainly would be. Either way, in order to help him keep the coat on, Harry decided to wrap his arm over Louis’ shoulders. Purely to be helpful, of course; it had nothing to do with Louis’ hand being no longer available for holding. Louis started slightly at his touch, then looked up at Harry and smiled. He pressed closer into Harry’s side, making him stumble just slightly. Harry could feel his warmth through the coat, along every place they touched.

Harry would have been happy to stay like that the whole night, but he didn’t get cold or tired. When he saw Louis’ eyes start to droop, his jaw flexing as he fought off a yawn, Harry slowly redirected their path back to the hospital.

Louis seemed to pull himself out of his daze when they came into sight of the building. He stood slightly straighter, though he still swayed a bit on his feet.

“Which way is your car?” Harry asked.

Louis pointed.

They walked in silence until they arrived at the car, a battered but serviceable vehicle painted a plain black. Louis leaned against the door, turning back to Harry. They stared at each other in silence for a long moment.

“Thanks,” Louis said at last.

Harry smiled. “Thank _you_ ,” he said.

“I should – oh, your coat.” Louis made to give it back, but Harry waved him off.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “You can give it back to me tomorrow.”

“But what about you?” Louis argued.

“I’m fine,” Harry said. “I have plenty of coats. Really.” He changed the subject. “Now are you safe to drive home or are you going to fall asleep at the wheel?”

Louis smiled sleepily. “’m good,” he said. “It’s not far.”

“Be careful,” Harry warned.

Louis reached out, rubbing a hand along Harry's arm. “I’m always careful,” he said. “Don’t be my mother.”

Harry shook his head. He watched as Louis climbed into the car, and as he drove away. He watched until he was out of sight. Then, he crossed the parking lot and entered the hospital.

~*~*~

A light knock on his door pulled Harry from his work. He looked up to see Louis standing in the open doorway.

“Got a moment, doc?” he asked.

“I – sure,” Harry said. “Sure, come in.”

Louis stepped into the small office and, after a moment’s hesitation, shut the door behind him.

Harry felt his breath quicken and he swallowed. He glanced around the office, which suddenly seemed to have shrunk. “I’d offer you a chair, but…”

“It’s fine,” Louis said. He moved into the room and perched on the edge of Harry’s desk. Harry moved back a little to give him space, tilting his head back to look up at him.

“What’s up?” he asked.

Louis ran a hand through his hair, scratching at his neck as he stared at the corner of the desk. “I, um,” he said. He paused. “I had a good time last night.”

Harry smiled. “So did I,” he said.

“You did?” Louis said. “I mean, um, I’m glad. I hoped you had.” He grimaced, and Harry tried not to laugh. It was interesting, seeing Louis like this – entirely different from his usual confident self.

“We should do it again sometime,” Harry said, letting him off the hook.

Louis’ face brightened instantly. “Really?” he said. “I mean, I’d love to, if you want to. I don’t-”

“Calm down, Louis,” Harry said, no longer able to contain a laugh. “I said I wanted to, and I meant it. It was fun.”

He rested his hand on Louis’. Louis looked down, studying it. Harry felt uncomfortable. He moved to pull it away, but Louis flipped his hand and caught Harry’s, holding it in place. Louis looked up.

“Same place, same time next week?” Louis asked. “Or do you want to do something else? I know a little theater that’s putting on Hamlet this month; it’s supposed to be fairly good.

“I’m fine with either,” Harry said. “Honestly. Whichever one you want.”

Louis nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Okay.” He stood, and Harry stood too, their hands still carefully linked. “I’ll, um,” Louis said, “arrange tickets and, like, let you know?”

“Sounds good,” Harry said, smiling. He never would have pegged Louis as uncertain in the romance department. “I look forward to it.”

“Me too,” Louis said. He smiled too, nervously at first, then wider. He took a half-step forward. Harry almost forgot to breathe altogether. His eyes traced down Louis’ face to his lips, then flicked back to his eyes. With a touch of amusement, he realized that Louis was doing the exact same thing.

“Harry,” Louis whispered, and Harry shivered. They were mere inches apart. He swayed closer, and-

“Oi, Harry, why’s your door shut?”

The loud voice startled them, and they jumped apart an instant before the door swung open and Niall popped his head in. Louis turned away, his hand pressed to his mouth as he stared at the floor. Niall looked between the two of them and winced.

“Sorry!” he mouthed to Harry. Harry bit back a sigh and forced a smile.

“Was there something you needed, Niall?”

“Jay sent me to get you,” he said, his expression still apologetic. “There was a wreck – a bus full of passengers went off the road. They’re bringing them in now. It’s a bit of a mess.” He winced again. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, though. If you’re busy…”

“No,” Harry said, already gathering up his things. “I’m on my way.” He started for the door, then paused, turning back to Louis. “Text me?”

“I will,” Louis said, a small smile on his lips. “Now go. You’ve got a job to do.”

He left the office, his arm brushing against Harry’s as he passed. Harry followed him out and stood in the hall, watching him walk away. When he disappeared around a corner, Niall coughed. Harry looked at him.

“I am so, so sorry,” Niall said. “I had no idea-”

“Skip it,” Harry said, beginning to walk towards the emergency room. His long strides meant Niall had to almost trot to keep up with him, but he managed it with relative ease, and kept talking.

“You never told me how your date went last night,” he said. “I want to hear all the details.”

“Niall,” Harry said tersely. “There are people coming in right now who are in pain, who are injured, who are dying. Is this really the time?”

“You can talk and walk,” Niall said. “Come on, spill. This is the first interesting thing you’ve done since I’ve known you.” Harry gave him a look. He sighed. “Okay, I exaggerate, but in this department it is. You’re always so aloof, so above it all.”

“Maybe I just have other priorities,” Harry said.

“You aren’t making this easy, you know.”

“I know.” Harry couldn’t help a small smile, but it dropped a moment later. “Hey, how do you even know about that?”

“I have my ways,” Niall said. “The real question is why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t have to tell you everything, you know,” Harry said mulishly. Now it was Niall’s turn to give him a look. Harry sighed. “It – it was good, last night,” he said. “I enjoyed it. It’s just still so new, to both of us. I don’t want to jinx it, or get my hopes up or anything.”

“Relax,” Niall said. “He likes you, you like him, what’s there to jinx?”

Harry said nothing, but his lips twitched. A silence descended, the only sound the brush of their shoes on the tiled floor. As they turned down the hall to the ER, the faint sound of sirens carried through the air.

~*~*~

Harry could feel a difference in the air almost before they sat down in the theater. They had repeated the same steps as on the last date, but the result that they arrived at bore little resemblance. There was – a tension, an anticipation perhaps, that was almost palpable.

Harry could feel it in the way that everyone around them seemed to blur out whenever they made eye contact. He could feel it in the way he jumped whenever Louis touched him, like a spark of electricity had jumped between them. He could feel it in how he couldn’t focus on the movie previews at all, the explosions and witty dialogue just going over his head even if he struggled to pay attention.

Honestly, though, it was most evident in the way Louis’ leg would not stop bouncing.

“Hey,” Harry said, resting a hand on Louis’ knee. “Relax.”

Louis looked over at him, his body twisting slightly as his leg stilled. Their eyes met and a shiver ran up Harry’s spine. He opened his mouth to speak, but he didn’t know what to say. He could hear Louis’ breath, just a little too fast; his heartbeat just a little too loud.

And then Louis leaned forward and Harry knew that this was what all the waiting had been leading up to. And as his mouth met Louis’, their hands reaching up to pull each other closer, closer, he knew it had been worth the wait, that this would have been worth any wait.

The armrest between them dug into Harry’s stomach, but when Louis’ tongue was flicking against his teeth, that hardly seemed to matter, nothing really mattered, not compared to this.

“Do you mind?” a voice from behind them hissed, and they started slightly, pulling apart as they remembered where they were. “Some people are trying to watch the movie.”

Harry could clearly make out Louis’ face, even in the darkness of the theater. His eyes were glassy and his expression slightly dazed, but his meaning was clear as he jerked his head towards the exit, his eyebrows quirked in a question. Harry swallowed hard and nodded, just slightly.

A smile bloomed on Louis’ face. He handed their nearly untouched bag of popcorn to the complainer behind them and stood, grabbing Harry’s hand. They made their way out of the aisle, to the annoyance of several more people, and burst out into the main theater complex, which bustling with moviegoers. Louis made a noise of annoyance at the sight of the crowds and tugged Harry towards the exit. Harry followed willingly, his breath coming fast, catching in his lungs.

The sun was setting when they stumbled through the main doors into the parking lot, bathing everything in a faintly orange light. It was a beautiful sight, but Harry barely noticed it, because the second they were outside Louis spun, pressing him roughly against the wall, and the feeling of his lips was better than a hundred sunsets or a thousand sunrises. It was all the fire and light but concentrated in a single moment, and then another, and another. Harry breathed him in, scenting sweat and shampoo, cigarettes and cologne, and they were all such mundane things, so ordinary, but together they smelled like Louis and Harry wasn’t sure he’d ever smelled anything better.

Harry’s hands traced along Louis’ sides, wrapped around his shoulders, fisted in his shirt. Louis’ fingers twisted in Harry’s hair, tugging it every which way and Harry couldn’t breathe, but then he didn’t want to, didn’t need to, Louis could be his oxygen.

When they finally pulled apart, gasping and clutching at each other for balance, it was dark out. The sun was long gone and the first faint stars had made their appearance. Harry buried his face in Louis’ neck as he breathed, his throat feeling almost ragged and his lips tender. He felt Louis’ arms curl around his back, the gentle breeze of his exhalations tickling Harry’s skin.

“So much for the movie,” he said at last.

“Fuck the movie,” Louis replied immediately, and his voice was so fervent that Harry laughed, the sound ringing in the quiet parking lot.

“What do you want to do now?” he asked.

Louis raised one shoulder and dropped it slowly. “I dunno,” he said. “I’m not particular. I guess we could grab a bite to eat…”

He trailed off, and Harry shook his head. “Maybe something else…” He thought for a moment. “Do you want to see my apartment?” He ducked his head, suddenly realizing how that sounded. “Not as – I didn’t mean – I’m not trying to move too fast or anything, just-”

“It’s fine,” Louis said with a chuckle. “No, yeah, that sounds good. Quiet, private.”

“It’s not much,” he warned. “Small. Kinda plain, really.”

“Do you want to show it to me or not?” Louis asked, his voice tinged with amusement.

“No, yes, that is, I-” Harry stopped, smiling self-deprecatingly. “Yes, I do.”

Louis reached for Harry’s hands, linking their fingers together. “Then let’s go,” was all he said.

~*~*~

Harry’s keys jingled as he unlocked the door and pushed it open. Inside was a small hallway, with five doors leading off of it. The walls were a dark green color, a rug on the floor patterned with blue. It was entirely unremarkable, maybe a little dim, even, but Louis smiled.

They stepped inside, Harry toeing off his shoes, Louis following suit without prompting.

“Harry?” a voice called from within one of the rooms. “That you?”

“My roommate, Zayn,” Harry said at Louis’ questioning look. In a slightly louder voice, he called back, “Yeah, it’s me and a friend.”

“Hang on.” There was a momentary pause followed by a brief shuffling noise, and then a dark haired man emerged from the second door on the left. He was tall, with chiseled features and skin just a shade too dark to be white. He stuck out a hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Louis,” Louis said, taking the hand and shaking it. “Likewise.”

“We were going to see a movie,” Harry explained, “but nothing good was showing.”

“Really?” Zayn said. “I thought that new action-romance was on.” His voice was innocent, but his eyes were on Louis’ lips, which were still slightly swollen. Harry’s had returned entirely to normal, to his immense displeasure. They would have to rectify that.

“I saw that with friends last week,” Louis said easily. “It wasn’t good enough to merit seeing again, even with Harry’s excellent company.” He glanced up at Harry and smiled, and Harry couldn’t help but smile back.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it, then,” Zayn said, moving for the door.

“Oh, you don’t have to leave on our account,” Harry said quickly.

“It’s no trouble,” Zayn said, pulling on his shoes. “I needed to go pick up some things anyway.” He straightened, smiling. “Have fun.”

Harry couldn’t formulate a response before the door was shut behind him and he and Louis were alone together. He glanced at Louis, who looked back.

“Aren’t you going to show me around?” Louis said at last.

“Um, sure,” Harry said. “What do you want to see?”

Louis shrugged. “It’s your apartment,” he said. “You decide.”

It really was a small place, so Harry wound up showing him more or less all of it – the kitchen, the living room, his bedroom, the bathroom. He didn’t show Louis Zayn’s room, simply because the door was shut. It didn’t take long, so they crashed on the couch in the living room and put on a show on the television.

Harry couldn’t have told you what it was about, because he spent more time looking over at Louis than paying attention to the show. The dim light from the TV screen outlined his eyelashes and threw unusual shadows over his face. Harry was entranced.

Eventually, Louis glanced up at him. They were squished right next to each other, so the angle was slightly awkward, but Louis smiled.

“Hi,” he said.

Harry bit his lip, half-embarrassed at being caught staring. “Oops?” he offered.

Louis laughed softly, his hand squeezing Harry’s leg gently. “S’all right,” he said. He still didn’t look away.

Harry hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward. Louis’ smile encouraged him, and he brought a gentle hand up to cup Louis’ cheek. Their lips met, softly this time, but heat spread through Harry’s entire body. His breath caught as Louis’ hand slid behind his neck, his fingers gentle against Harry’s skin.

Harry pulled back for a moment, watching Louis’ face. A soft smile hovered on his lips, and his brow was smooth and relaxed. As Harry watched, he slowly opened his eyes.

“Why did you stop?” he asked.

“You’re missing the show,” Harry said, his mouth twitching into a smile.

Louis laughed. “I thought I made it clear that my main interest tonight does not lie with shows,” he said.

Harry tilted his head, his eyes wide and innocent. “Where does it lie?”

Louis rose up slightly on his knees. “Why don’t I show you?”

Before Harry could make another sound, Louis’ lips were on his again. His hands landed on Harry’s shoulders, pushing him down into the couch cushions. Harry reached up, wrapping his hands around Louis’ back, tugging him down, their bodies flush against each other.

After a while, Louis pulled back an inch, resting his forehead on Harry’s. “How about you?” he asked breathlessly. “Where does your main interest lie?”

Harry could only stare at him, and kiss him again.

~*~*~

Zayn got back not long after Louis left. He found Harry stretched out on the couch, a grin on his face.

“You’ve got it bad,” he said, and Harry laughed.

“I suppose so,” he said. “But really, do you know how long it’s been since I did – anything like this? Since I felt normal? _Human?_ ”

“I know,” Zayn said. Harry moved his feet to make room, and Zayn sat down. “It’s good to see you happy,” he said. “And I like – what was his name? Louis?”

Harry nodded. “Louis Tomlinson.”

Zayn went stiff. “Tomlinson?” he repeated, an edge to his voice.

Harry glanced up. “Oh. Yeah, that one,” he said. “But it’s okay, Zayn.”

“Really?” Zayn asked. “You’ve heard the same stories I have.”

“And you saw him,” Harry said. “He’s a good guy.”

“He kills vamps.”

“And vamps kill humans,” Harry replied evenly. “What’s your point?”

“Does he even know you’re a vamp?”

Harry glared at Zayn. “What do you take me for?” he said. “I wouldn’t hide that from him. Of course he knows.”

“And he’s okay with that?”

“Yes!”

Zayn shook his head. “I just – you’re an idealist, Harry,” he said. “You always want to think the best of people, and that’s admirable. But people aren’t always the best.”

“I know that,” Harry said. “I’m not trying to claim he’s perfect. Just – give him a chance, would you? Before you start making all these snap judgments.”

Zayn looked unconvinced. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Stop worrying so much,” Harry said. “I can take care of myself.”

“But-”

“I mean it,” Harry said. He didn’t want to talk about this. “I know what I’m doing.”

“If you say so,” Zayn said skeptically.

“I do,” Harry said.

Zayn shrugged. “Okay then.” He changed the subject, Harry only half-listening as he started talking about some art exhibit downtown.

He hoped he knew what he was doing.

~*~*~

Louis started dropping by more and more often, not staying long but just popping in and saying hi. Harry might be in his office, or between patients, or taking a break from work in the ER, and Louis would just appear, lighting everything up with his presence and his smile.

Two weeks later, Louis stayed over at Harry’s for the first time. He fell asleep with his head resting on Harry’s chest, and Harry spent the night committing to memory the gentle swoop of his hair, the curve of his profile, the softness of his skin. Zayn poked his head in at one point, and upon taking in the scene laughed and called Harry whipped. Harry just glared and shushed him, not wanting to disturb Louis.

In the morning, Louis apologized for being on top of him. Harry kissed the apologies right off his tongue, whispering that he wouldn’t have it any other way. Louis squirmed, protesting that he had morning breath. Harry kissed away his protests too, until Louis was the one pressing Harry against the pillows and kissing him with everything he had.

After that, they went into the bathroom and Harry pulled a new toothbrush out of the cupboard for Louis. Looking at it sitting in the holder gave Harry a warm feeling deep in his chest. He kissed Louis again, and he tasted like Harry’s toothpaste and new beginnings.

~*~*~

It had been just over three months – not that Harry was counting – when it all went wrong.

Harry was lying on the bed reading, his ankles crossed as he rested his chin in his hands, looking down on the book on his pillow. Louis was draped over his back, trying his best to make it impossible for Harry to concentrate by pressing soft kisses along his neck. Harry couldn’t help but find it ironic whenever Louis did this, seeing as he was human and Harry was a vampire.

He turned the page of his book, trying to focus on the words in front of him, but Louis pulled aside the large t-shirt he wore and gently traced his tongue along the curves of his shoulder blades. It was all Harry could to not to roll his head back and collapse into the blankets. His arms shook slightly, his breath coming faster as the text blurred before his eyes.

Louis pulled back, pausing for a moment, and Harry didn’t even need to see his face to know he was grinning smugly. A moment later Louis’ mouth landed on Harry’s right arm, just below the shoulder. He dug his teeth in just slightly, sucking at the skin. Harry’s breath rushed out of him in a noisy whoosh and Louis chuckled and pulled away.

“Want everyone to know you’re mine, babe,” he said, resting his cheek on Harry’s back. “Always.”

That was too much for Harry and he rolled over, pulling Louis’ mouth to his in a bone-crushing kiss. Louis’ smiled into it, pleased to be the recipient of Harry’s full attention once more. But then, when it came to Harry, what Louis wanted, Louis got.

Harry panted into Louis’ mouth, and Louis only pulled him closer, nearer, tighter against him. Two thin layers of fabric between them was too much, and they separated at the same moment to shuck off their shirts, tossing them to the floor in twin heaps before pressing against each other, warm skin on cool. Louis’ fingers tangled in Harry’s hair until he couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began, they were two but one and Harry wouldn’t have had it any other way.

When he felt like he was going to burst, Harry broke away from Louis’ lips, delicious as they were, and instead traced feathery light kisses along his jawline. Louis’ head tilted back, a low moan slipping from his throat as his fingers tightened in Harry’s hair.

“Ha – Harry,” he gasped.

Harry kept going, kissing along his throat, feeling the pulse pounding beneath the thin skin, a heartbeat that he lived for and that he would gladly die for. He reached Louis’ collarbones, which were fucking _sinful_ , and paused for a moment before diving down to bury his face in them, in Louis, and breathing the scent of his skin in and in until he felt filled to the brim with – everything.

One of Louis’ hands slipped from his hair, sliding down his back until fingers pressed into his arm.

“Harry?” Louis said again, but his voice was so different that Harry stopped dead. He lifted his head, looking up at Louis, whose eyes were dark but his brow was slightly creased in a frown.

“What is it?” Harry asked, a bit breathless.

Louis seemed to realize that his timing was odd, and he flushed. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean – I just, the hickey’s gone.”

Harry’s mind was still a little foggy and distracted. “What?” he asked.

Louis’ fingers circled the spot, pressing harder, then gentler. “I gave you – it was right here, and now it isn’t.”

“Oh,” Harry said. “Yeah, that’s… not surprising. I heal fast.” Louis was still frowning. Harry ran a gentle finger along his cheek. “You don’t have to mark me for me to know I’m yours,” he said. Louis smiled faintly, but something was off. Harry couldn’t tell what. Did shouting the truth to the world really matter that much to him?

“I could wear a sign,” he offered. “Property of Louis Tomlinson.” Louis laughed at that, but it was still quiet. “Louis, what’s wrong?”

Louis didn’t answer for a moment. “Nothing,” he said at last. “I’m just… tired, I guess. I think I’m going to turn in.”

He slipped out from under Harry and stood, searching for his discarded shirt. Harry sat up. “You’re going?” he asked in surprise. “You could stay here.”

“Sorry,” Louis said. “I promised to spend some time with a friend today.”

“I thought you said you were tired.”

“I am,” Louis said. “I mean – we’re staying in the same place, so it’s kind of the same thing. He’s just been feeling a bit neglected lately, what with my spending so much time with you.” He smiled again, but it was wrong somehow, dim, not like its usual sunny brilliance.

Harry stood, walking over to him. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” he said.

Louis’ throat bobbed as he swallowed, then nodded. “Tomorrow,” he repeated.

Harry hesitated a moment before leaning down to press his lips to Louis’. Louis stiffened slightly, though he didn’t stop him or push him away. Harry pulled back, sure something was wrong, but without the faintest idea what it was.

“I’ll, um. Show myself out,” Louis said.

“I can-”

“No,” Louis said. “It’s okay.”

A moment later, he was gone. The slam of the front door a few seconds later told Harry he’d exited the apartment. Harry was left alone, with a sinking feeling in his stomach that he didn’t even know the reason for.

~*~*~

Harry was nearing the end of his shift when Louis showed up. Harry smiled at him, relieved to see him.

“Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

Louis shrugged. “I just thought we could hang out,” he said. “Make up for me ditching you last night.”

“You don’t have to make up for that,” Harry said, putting away the last of his papers. “But I’m glad to see you. I was… worried.”

Louis didn’t say anything for a moment. “I just got a little…” He waved his hand dismissively. “I’m fine now. Though there’s an errand I need to run before we leave.” He held out a hand. “Come with me?”

“Sure,” Harry said, the knot that had briefly formed in his stomach fading away. He took Louis’ hand, feeling the firmness of his grip and the warmth of his skin. It grounded him, though at the same time it sometimes made him feel like he was flying.

He followed Louis down the halls as they chatted, Louis telling him a story about two squirrels he’d seen chasing each other around earlier that day. It was light and easy and Harry laughed, his earlier worries a distant memory.

Suddenly Harry’s foot met an invisible wall. He stopped, looking down at it, then up at Louis, who was clearly unaffected by whatever it was.

“What’s up?” Louis said.

Harry glanced up the hallway, and realized what was going on. They stood in front of the hospital’s small chapel, which might not be associated with any specific religion, but it was holy nonetheless, and therefore forbidden ground to Harry.

“Any particular reason we’re at the chapel?” he asked.

Louis shrugged. “A friend of mine works here,” he said. “I wanted to drop in and say hi.”

“Okay,” Harry said. “I’ll wait out here.”

Louis tugged on his hand. “It’ll just be a minute,” he said. “Come on, he’s a great guy.”

“No,” Harry said. “Louis, I _can’t._ ”

Light reflected off Louis’ eyes. “Please,” he said, his voice falling.

Harry was baffled. “I don’t mind waiting,” he said.

“That’s not-” Louis dropped Harry’s hand. Harry would have reached for him, but he stepped closer to the chapel, past where Harry could go. “I can’t believe this,” he whispered.

Now Harry was just worried. What on earth was going on? “Louis, what is it?” he asked.

Suddenly, Louis spun. His eyes were hard as he covered the distance between them in three long steps. He planted his hands on Harry’s chest and shoved, hard. Harry stumbled backwards, almost falling.

“Louis,” he said. “What are you-”

“You’re a fucking leech,” Louis spat. “A filthy fucking bloodsucking leech.”

What?

“Yes,” Harry said slowly. “I’m a vampire, but Louis-”

“Don’t!” Louis’ hands shook. “What, did you think it was funny?”

“Think what was funny?” Harry said. “Louis, what are you talking about?”

Louis didn’t answer, just turned and walked away again. Harry’s eyes widened.

“Are you telling me you didn’t know?”

Louis whirled, his eyes blazing. “Of course I didn’t know!” he cried. “Do you think I would have kissed you – would have _touched_ you – if I knew?” He spat on the floor. “I can’t believe I – that’s disgusting.”

Each word hit Harry like a punch to the gut. He stumbled backwards, catching himself against the wall. Louis couldn’t have hurt him worse if he’d stabbed him.

“And you-” Louis continued, “you knew who I was, you knew what I – you must have been having a right laugh with Zayn – he’s one of your kind too, isn’t he?” Harry didn’t deny it, and Louis rocked back on his heels. “God, I should have known,” he said, his voice dropping. “I’m such an idiot.”

Harry almost laughed. Louis was the idiot? Please, Harry was the one who had believed, honestly, truly believed that they could work. That a vampire and a Hunter could ever be together.

“I thought you knew,” he rasped out at last, his throat thick with tears that would never fall, that could never be real. “I thought – you didn’t talk to your mother, then.”

“What?” Louis said. “What does she have to do with this?” Harry just looked at him, watching as horror spread across his face. “You mean – she knows? And she lets you work in her hospital?”

Harry stiffened. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Louis hissed, “that you’re a murderer and a cannibal, and she lets you near vulnerable people who if they die people will just assume that it was from whatever brought them there.”

“I would _never-_ ” Harry was incensed.

“Wouldn’t you?”

“You _know_? I wouldn’t.”

Louis just looked at him. “I don’t know you at all,” was all he said.

“Louis-”

“ _Don’t!_ ” Louis took two steps backward, holding up his hands. “Don’t touch me, don’t say my name, just… don’t. If I see you again, I’ll be carrying my stake.” He turned. “And I will use it.”

He walked away, and Harry couldn’t breathe without him, his chest tightening until it felt like his lungs would collapse, but even then, even if they did it wouldn’t kill him, and this pain wouldn’t stop, would never stop.

He sank down against the wall, pressing the heels of his hands to his forehead. It hurt, like nothing he’d ever known. His eyes burned, his chest heaved, he felt like he was going to be sick from the pain of it.

“Dr. Styles?” Harry dimly recognized the voice of one of the newer orderlies. “Are you okay?”

No. He wasn’t okay. He was about as not-okay as he could possibly be, but that was neither here nor there. He forced himself to his feet, staggering only slightly. His joints were stiff. He wondered how long he’d been sitting on the floor.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to – I’m sorry.”

“Are you all right?” the man asked again. What was his – Aiden. His name was Aiden. “You look ill.”

“Don’t worry about me, Aiden,” Harry said. Aiden seemed to still be worried. Harry couldn’t really blame him. “I think I’m going to go lie down,” he said, stepping away from the chapel.

“Do you need any-”

“I just need to rest,” Harry said. “I haven’t been – haven’t been sleeping well lately.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie, and it seemed to satisfy Aiden. Initially, Harry planned to retreat to his office, but the thought of going back there made him gasp and his chest clench. He changed direction.

The staff room was empty when he walked in, to his immense relief. After a moment, he decided he really did need to lie down, and stretched out on one of the long couches. He barely fit, but he threw an arm over his eyes and tried to relax. Not for the first time, he wished he could sleep. He could do with a little oblivion.

~*~*~

The next few weeks sucked. Not literally – Harry could barely force himself to eat. He could barely force himself to do much of anything. The only thing that kept him from spending all day in bed was that he didn’t go to bed. He barely entered his room, really – every inch of it was painted with memories, and they hurt too much to bear.

He couldn’t bring himself to go back to his office, either. He asked Jay to arrange to transfer him to another office. She did, with a sympathetic look and an assurance that he could have all the time off he needed. She didn’t seem to realize that time off was the last thing he needed. His work was the only thing holding him together. It was the only thing that made him feel worthy of being alive.

Where once he’d worked double shifts, now he barely left the hospital. He showered when someone told him to, and changed his clothes with the same regularity, but everything that wasn’t work he did on autopilot.

Niall seemed to take their breakup personally, which might have creeped Harry out if he’d had the energy to care. “I just don’t get it,” he said over and over. “You guys were perfect together. What happened?”

Harry would just shake his head. “We had… irreconcilable differences,” he told him once. When Niall pressed for more, Harry remained silent.

Zayn tried to comfort him, but when a week had passed with no improvement he began to grow impatient. “Harry, you’ve got to move on,” he said after a particularly mopey day. “He’s just a human.”

“You say that as though being human makes him lesser,” Harry said. “I don’t care about his ability to lift cars, Zayn; I loved him as a person.”

“He’s a Hunter, Harry,” Zayn said. “You had to know it was chancy at best.”

“But I _hoped,_ ” Harry said.

“I was just hoping he would stake you,” Zayn muttered. Then, “Shit, Harry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I just – I worry about you.”

Maybe he didn’t mean it; maybe he did mean it but didn’t mean to say it. Either way, Harry tried not to bring it up around him after that.

After a month in which he did almost nothing but work, Zayn declared he needed a night off.

“Moping isn’t going to do you any good,” he said. “You need to get out. Live a little. Think of something else.” It was hard for Harry to argue effectively under the thick, pervasive layer of apathy in which he lived.

So it was that he found himself sitting in a dingy vampire club. It didn’t look like much from the outside; certainly no human would have guessed what lay within the seemingly ordinary brick building. Knowledge of the club was passed on via word of mouth. Harry idly wondered who Zayn had learned of it from, but then, Zayn had always been more active in the vampire community.

Harry sat in a darkened booth, nursing a glass of A-neg. Zayn made intermittent attempts to pull Harry onto the dance floor, which was writhing with crowded bodies. Had they been human, the heat and stink would have been intolerable. Either way, Harry didn’t really feel like dancing, and after a few minutes of cajoling, Zayn would return alone to the floor.

Voices washed over him, from the dance floor, from the booths around him, from the bar. He didn’t listen to any of them, but words and phrases floated past him.

“…no time for… tired… nothing…”

“…maybe if we… unfair… can’t just…”

“…friend told me… justice… Tomlinscum…”

Harry sat bolt upright, nearly spilling his drink on the table. He listened intently, trying to find who had spoken.

“Those Hunters are strong,” someone said, and it was a different voice but it had to be the same conversation. Harry stood, following it.

“Not as strong as us,” came the reply, and that was the same voice all right. Harry stopped, leaning against a tall pillar. The voices seemed to be coming from a small group of perhaps a dozen vampires, leaning against the bar. He watched them intently.

“Hunters usually attack solitary vamps,” the first voice said again. “Go after loners, or split someone off from a group. What chance would they have against all of us at once?”

Harry’s mouth went dry. His hands shook and his vision went gray. They were talking about killing – they couldn’t. That couldn’t happen.

“I say we should do it,” a new voice piped up. “This place is boring. Let’s have some fun!”

“That’s the spirit!” the first voice said. “Who else is with me? There’s a sort of poetic justice in it, don’t you think? Taking down that demon spawn in his own home?”

“Watch who you’re calling demon spawn,” someone joked, and everyone laughed.

Harry felt cold all over. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think-

A hand landed on his shoulder and he nearly fell over.

“So you finally decided to join the fun, eh?” Zayn said. “About time.” Harry spun to face him, and Zayn quickly took in his stricken expression. “What’s up?”

“Those vamps over there-” Harry turned to point, but the group was gone. He scanned the crowd, but they were nowhere in sight. “Shit, they’re gone. Shit, shit, shit.”

“Slow down,” Zayn said, turning Harry back towards him. “Who’s gone?”

Harry forced himself to breathe slowly, to speak clearly. “There was a group of vamps over by the bar,” he said. “One of them somehow found out where Louis is staying. They’re all going to go over there and kill him – kill all the Hunters!”

Zayn’s eyebrows rose. “Oh,” he said.

“I have to stop them,” Harry said, talking more to himself than to Zayn. “I have to save him. I can’t – I have to.”

Zayn’s mouth twitched. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Harry gaped at him. “What?” he said. “What are you saying?”

“Well, they’re Hunters,” Zayn said slowly.

Harry’s eyes flashed. “So they deserve to die?”

“That’s not what I said,” Zayn said. He sighed. “Look, we both know I don’t like Hunters. We’d both know I was lying if I pretended differently. But whether you like it or not, killing vamps is what they do.”

“One at a time, yes,” Harry said. “They might even be able to take out two or three, but against a dozen? They don’t have a chance.”

Zayn winced. “Louis has been doing this a long time,” he said, but he sounded less sure of himself. “He’s practically a legend. I’m sure he can take care of himself.”

Harry just looked at him. “I’m going after them,” he said. “You can stay or come, I don’t much care. But I can’t just sit by and do nothing.”

“I didn’t mean-” Zayn ran a hand through his hair. Harry tried not to let his surprise show on his face. Zayn only risked messing up his hair when he was seriously agitated.

“Damn it, Harry,” Zayn said at last. “If you’re going, I’m coming with you. I just…” He paused. “This isn’t about winning him back, is it?”

Harry blinked. The thought hadn’t even occurred to him. “No,” he said honestly. “No, I just – I have to – I can’t let him die.”

“Are you sure?” Zayn said. “Because-”

“For fuck’s sake, Zayn!” Harry snapped. “This is happening now. We have to go.”

“Right,” Zayn said. “Okay, you’re right.” He nodded once. “Let’s go.”

~*~*~

They were outside before Harry realized that he had no idea where to go. “Shit,” he muttered again. It took him a full fifteen seconds, each of which felt like an eternity, before he pulled out his cellphone and dialed. The electronic ringing sounded almost leisurely, and he bounced impatiently.

“Come on, come on, come on!”

The call connected with a click.

“Hi, this is-”

“Jay, it’s Harry,” he cut her off. “I need to know where Louis is staying.”

There was a pause. “Harry, I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said carefully. “I know you want to-”

“No, Jay, please,” Harry said. “This has nothing to do with me. There’s – there’s a group of vamps heading over there right now, planning to kill all the Hunters they can. Louis is top of their hit list.”

Jay’s gasp echoed through the phone connection. “How did they find out where they're staying?”

“I don’t know,” Harry said. “I don’t know. But Jay, I have to get there. I have to help. I can’t-” His voice cracked. “I can’t let him die.”

“I know,” Jay said. Her voice was warm and reassuring. “I’ll warn him. They’ll be okay, Harry. This isn’t the first time this has happened.”

“Jay.” Harry’s chest was tight. “I can’t just sit around waiting. Please. You have to tell me.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. Harry squeezed his eyes shut.

“Please,” he said. “I can’t let him die.”

“Okay,” Jay said at last.

Harry’s eyes popped open. “Thank you,” he breathed.

“Be careful,” she warned. “The Hunters might not take kindly to you.”

“I don’t care,” Harry said. “Jay, please-”

She gave him the address. A moment later, Harry and Zayn were racing through the darkness. Harry only hoped they wouldn’t be too late.

~*~*~

The instant Harry saw the house at the address Jay had given him, he felt sick to his stomach. The front door was ripped half off its hinges, and several of the windows were broken. He could hear the sounds of a struggle from inside, and shadows moved against the walls.

Harry swallowed hard. He could feel Zayn standing beside him, waiting for him to make the first move.

“Are you okay?” Zayn asked.

“No,” Harry said. “Let’s go.”

As one, they raced across the lawn, ducking in the front door. Inside, Harry froze.

It was chaos.

There were at least a dozen hunters struggling against three or four vamps, moving faster than Harry would have thought possible for a human. They’d taken out at least one vamp, but five more bodies looked to belong to Hunters. They were holding their own, but it was a losing battle.

One of the Hunters, a girl who couldn’t have been older than sixteen, spotted them. A quiet whimper escaped her lips, a solitary tear rolling down her cheek as she signaled the others. Two broke off, heading for Harry and Zayn.

“No,” Harry said, taking a step back. “We don’t want to hurt you.”

“Sure,” one of the Hunters said. “Pull the other one.”

“I swear,” Harry said. The men kept advancing.

Harry glanced at Zayn, who shrugged. “Your move, mate.” Harry looked back at the battle. Since they’d entered the room, the vamps had scored several more hits. The Hunters were all bleeding badly. The girl fell to her knees, holding up her stake as a vamp lunged.

Harry charged. He hit the vamp center mass, sending him flying through a wall, and spun. Hunters and vamps alike were frozen in shock. Before they could move, Harry grabbed another and pinned his arms. “Stake him!” he ordered.

The spell broke, and motion began again. The vamp he was holding struggled fiercely. The other two moved to help him, but the Hunters held them off. The girl surged to her feet and shoved her stake through the restrained vamp’s heart. He bucked, then went limp, and Harry dropped him at his feet.

Zayn darted in and grabbed another vamp, and a Hunter quickly staked her. The last vamp was wary now, and started backing away. He was on the defensive as the Hunters closed in, but before anyone could get close he bolted, dashing out the broken front window.

“There’s no time for that,” Harry said as several Hunters moved to give chase. They turned to look at him, their eyes untrusting. He might have saved their lives, but he was still a vamp. That was fair, he supposed.

“He’s right,” one of the Hunters said after a moment. He looked to be older than the other Hunters, though he couldn’t have been much more than thirty. “We have to get upstairs.”

At his command, the Hunters turned as one and made their way from the room.

“Is that where Louis is?” Harry asked, following. The man stopped and turned, regarding him stonily.

“Why do you ask?”

Harry looked down. “We had – some dealings,” he said evasively. Zayn snorted quietly. Harry hoped the man couldn’t hear it. “It’s complicated,” he added. “But I’d die to protect him. That’s why I’m here.”

The man’s gaze didn’t waver as he studied Harry. At last he nodded. “All right,” he said. “But if you betray us, you will regret it.”

“I won’t,” Harry promised. “Now please-”

The man was walking out of the room before Harry could finish his sentence. Zayn followed as the man led them to a staircase at the back of the house. Several steps were broken, splinters protruding from the split boards. Harry swallowed, bracing himself, then raced up the stairs.

There were six vamps here, including the one who had started them on this mission. The addition of the Hunters from downstairs seemed to have buoyed things somewhat, but even with four times as many Hunters as vampires, they were badly outmatched.

Adding two vampires, however, evened the odds somewhat.

“You owe me one,” Zayn said as he threw himself into the melee. He knocked one vamp into two more, causing a pileup of sorts.

“What are you doing?” one of his targets snarled.

“Beats me,” Zayn retorted. “Hold still, you maggots.”

A Hunter managed to stake one of the remaining vamps, and another took out one of Zayn’s before the other two got free. The Hunter went down.

Harry grabbed the wrist of one vamp. “Zayn!” he called. Zayn grabbed the other wrist, and with a silent nod, they pulled. The vampire screamed as his arms were torn from his shoulders. A moment later the sound cut off as he was staked.

“Three down,” Harry said, gasping slightly. “Three to go.”

He brushed the hair out of his face and joined the fight again.

Without the element of surprise, it was harder to take out the last vamps. They were fast, strong, and fighting for their lives. A single blow from one of them could send a Hunter flying across the room until they were stopped by a wall or other solid object. The Hunters were fast, but even the multipronged attacks that were their specialty were no longer enough.

Harry had never been much of a fighter. He was a doctor, a healer, not a warrior. The vamps easily dodged his swings, lightning fast though they might be. Zayn wasn’t faring much better. They occasionally scored glancing blows, but nothing that made any impact. The three vamps were trapped inside a circle of attackers, but it was a stalemate of sorts – the vamps couldn’t get out, but the Hunters couldn’t get close enough to finish them.

At last, Harry picked up a piece of wood from the floor – what looked to be the former leg of a table. He swung at the closest vamp, but instead of aiming for the head or chest, he focused on the vamp’s leg, just below the knee. The vamp wasn’t expecting that. Harry connected, and the vamp crumpled as his bones shattered with a sickening crunch. Four Hunters dove in, and while the vamp swatted one away, he couldn’t move to flee. There was a flash of silver and then he was still.

The last two vamps looked terrified. Their eyes were wide, the white showing all the way around. They stood back to back in the center of the circle, and the Hunters couldn’t get near them. Harry looked at Zayn, who nodded in resignation. They shuffled their position slightly. Harry held up one finger, then two. Then they charged.

They didn’t attack the vamps head on, but instead approached from the sides. They split the vamps away from each other and drove them backwards, farther from help. The circles closed in and reformed as two, one around each vamp. At last, the Hunters were in a position they were used to. A minute later, both vamps were dead. A momentary silence hung in the air, heavy breathing echoing throughout the room.

“Well done,” someone said at last. The Hunters straightened, and thumped their right hands on their chests twice.

“We beat,” they said in unison, and Harry shivered. Someone stepped forward.

“You all fought well,” he said, and Harry recognized him as the man from downstairs. “Now we must look to our fallen brethren.”

“Stop speaking so pretentious,” someone yelled, and several Hunters laughed. Even Marcus cracked a small smile. Harry didn’t understand how they could be cheerful after – everything.

Marcus clapped his hands and Harry jumped, the sound ringing in the quiet room. “All right, everybody get to work.” The Hunters split off into groups, moving with remarkable efficiency. Harry watched for a moment, then turned to Marcus.

“Where’s Louis?”

Marcus frowned at him. “I don’t know,” he said shortly. Harry must have looked fairly desperate, because after a moment Marcus sighed and asked someone else.

“I’m not sure,” the guy said, Harry couldn’t focus on his face. “He was injured during the fighting – we couldn’t keep track of the fallen, we had to focus on staying alive.”

Harry stopped listening. He scanned the room, swallowing down nausea. It was bad. Before, he had ignored the scattered bodies, some moving, some still. Now, he had to focus on them. Limbs were badly broken, or partially severed. Heads were caved in. But each form he looked at wasn’t Louis. Where was he?

Harry heard a quiet gasp from across the room. He turned to see that someone had lifted aside a broken table. Harry recognized the crumpled form beneath it instantly.

He barely registered that he was moving before he was kneeling beside Louis. He looked terrible. Large gashes marked his arms and the pool of blood under his head suggested that there was another one there. His skin was deathly pale. Harry was almost afraid to touch him. He couldn’t be dead, he couldn’t be dead, that wasn’t an option. He steeled himself, then rested a gentle hand on Louis’ chest, feeling for anything.

Nothing.

Then – something. A faint thump. The slightest rise. Harry held his fingers in front of Louis’ nose. It was faint, but he was breathing.

“I need bandages,” he yelled. “I need a needle and sterile thread, and – please tell me you guys have stuff for transfusions. If we have to wait for it to come from the hospital, I don’t think he’ll make it.”

“We do,” someone said, Harry didn’t care who. “I’m not sure we have enough to go around, though.”

“I brought some,” a familiar voice said, and Harry could have wept with relief.

“Jay,” he said. “Thank God.”

“I came as fast as I could,” she said, kneeling beside him. She handed him the supplies he’d asked for.

“I’ll get to work on the other casualties,” she said. Harry nodded. He knew he should probably focus on the less seriously wounded – triage and all that – he didn’t care. He didn’t fucking care. He’d spent centuries being selfless, helping the sick and injured. Today, he was going to be selfish and that was just that.

He hoped it would be enough.

~*~*~

“You saved a lot of lives today.”

Harry looked up, blinking hard to focus. He was exhausted, physically and mentally. After patching up Louis enough to keep him alive - no mean feat - he had done the same for at least fifteen other Hunters. Jay had probably helped even more people. She’d left about five minutes earlier with the most seriously injured, those who would need further treatment. Louis was among them. Harry would have gone with them, but Jay had said it might be best if he wasn’t there when Louis woke up, and Harry knew she was probably right.

A tall girl with long blonde hair stood over Harry now, where he sat against a wall, out of the way of the general activity. Hunters were cleaning up the mess the fight had left, tending to the injured, and packing up to move to a new location, one that wasn’t known to vampires.

Harry cleared his throat. “I was just trying to help,” he said.

The girl nodded, sitting down on the floor beside him. “I’m Charlotte,” she said.

“Harry,” he said.

“I know who you are.”

“Oh.”

There was a brief silence.

“Thank you for what you did,” she said after a moment. “Some of the Hunters will be too proud to say it, or too prejudiced.” She gave him a crooked smile. “Don’t take it personally.”

“They haven’t tried to kill me in almost three hours,” Harry said tiredly. “I think we’ll get along great.”

Charlotte laughed at that, her smile lighting up her whole face.

“The Hunters generally only target vamps who attack humans,” she said. “Popular opinion on vamps in general isn’t good – most people haven’t had a lot of good experiences with vamps – but if they don’t bother us, we don’t bother them. That’s the rules, and Marcus – the older man, he’s our leader – he enforces them.”

“That’s not how I’ve heard it,” Harry said.

“Yeah, well.” She shrugged. “We don’t exactly publicize it. Having a reputation for being dangerous is useful. We are only human, after all. Well-trained, but still human.”

Harry nodded, studying Charlotte’s face. It was open and genuine, not a thing like the way Marcus had looked at him. “So what makes you different?” he asked

“Hmm?”

“You don’t hate me,” he said.

“You did just save my life,” she pointed out.

“And yet no one else seems to feel that way,” he said. “They watch me like a hawk. I’m not blind, I can see you doing it.” He raised his voice just slightly, and counted at least three people who looked away. At least they had the grace to look sheepish. “But you… you accept me. You trust me. In spite of what I am.”

“I don’t think vampires are evil,” Charlotte said. 

She sounded so matter-of-fact about it that Harry was caught off guard. “Then why-”

“Why am I a Hunter?”

“Well, yeah.”

“I told you,” she said. “We hunt vamps who hurt people. We’re like – the vampire police.” Harry was frowning, and she sighed. “You’re a vampire, but you were a human before, right?”

“Right.”

“And among humans, some are good, and some are assholes, right?”

“That’s one way of putting it.”

“Well, vampires are the same. Some hurt people. Some kill people. Some take advantage of their abilities. But some… don’t. There are good vamps, just as there are good people. And just as we do with people, we assume innocence until we have a reason not to.” She grinned wryly. "Besides, we really don't have the manpower to get rid of all vamps. Our goal is to protect humans, so we focus on the ones that are a threat to humans."

Harry was impressed. It made sense, but he’d never heard of a human who thought that way. Usually it was all or nothing, either they hated vamps, or, more recently, they loved them. But it wasn’t that simple – nothing was.

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so,” Charlotte said, echoing his thoughts.

“Hamlet,” Harry said idly. “I saw it, you know. In Stratford.”

“Really?” Charlotte said. “That must have been amazing.”

Harry shrugged. “It didn’t seem that extraordinary at the time, but as Shakespeare has stayed so prominent through the years… looking back, it is pretty cool.”

“You never know what’s going to be big,” she mused. “Certainly he never would have imagined we’d still be reading his stuff now.”

“On e-readers, no less,” Harry said, and she laughed.

Harry liked her. He liked how she treated him – normally, but not through ignoring what he was. It was there, but it wasn’t the focus or an unspoken undercurrent; it wasn't disgusting or awe-inspiring. It just… was.

“Anyway,” Charlotte said. “I came over here, because - do you know how Louis got involved with the Hunters?”

Harry turned to look at her. “No,” he said. “Do you?”

Charlotte didn’t speak for a moment. She scratched idly at the hem of her shirt. “About ten years ago,” she said, “his family was the victim of a vampire attack. They killed his father and three of his sisters.” Harry’s eyes widened, but she kept speaking. “The Hunters intervened. They’d been tracking the vamps, but they were too late to save everyone. Louis lost half his family in a single day.”

“Oh,” Harry said. “I had no idea-”

“As soon as he was old enough,” Charlotte continued, “he joined the Hunters. He’s devoted and extraordinarily effective. I think…” She trailed off, her face twisting. “I think he’s still haunted by those deaths, even all these years later. I think he’s trying to prevent anyone from ever going through that.”

They were silent for a long moment. “Anyway,” Charlotte said eventually. “That’s why he hates vamps so much.”

“Yeah,” Harry said. “No wonder. I would hate them too, if…” He trailed off. “His mother doesn’t hate vamps,” he said after a moment.

Charlotte shook her head slowly. “Jay was – well, she was a nurse. She stayed with the Hunters for a while, treating the injured, but never fighting. But she learned from them. She learned about vampires, about what they could do. And that was back before Marcus was in charge; instead the leader was a woman named Rebecca. Rebecca didn’t hate vampires. She actually had some friends who were vampires, though obviously they didn’t really mix well with the Hunters.”

“So it’s not-”

Harry cut himself off, but Charlotte smiled at him. “Unprecedented?” She shook her head. “No, it’s not.”

Harry blinked at her. “How did you…”

Charlotte stood. “I should be going,” she said, smiling. “But thanks again. I’m sure my brother will thank you too, when he recovers.”

“Your…” What?

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “He introduced me as Lottie, didn’t he?” she said. “I swear, he still thinks of me like I’m twelve.”

Harry’s mouth fell open. “You’re-”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll talk some sense into him, don’t worry.”

Harry had a hundred questions he wanted to ask, but she walked away before he could formulate even one.

~*~*~

_Can I see you?_

Harry stared at the text message, hardly daring to believe his eyes. He blinked once, twice, and looked again.

_Can I see you?_

He double checked the number, the previous messages. The last twelve were from him, desperate pleas for Louis to let him explain, to talk to him, anything. Louis hadn’t answered, and Harry had given up after a week.

But now, Louis had texted him.

Louis wanted to see him.

 _When and where,_ Harry typed, his fingers shaking as he hit send. A moment later the reply buzzed.

_I’m in the park across the street from the hospital._

Harry was already moving by the time he finished reading. _I’m on my way,_ he sent as he raced down the halls, fighting to maintain a believably human speed.

He sent a quick message to Jay, telling her he’d stepped out for a minute, then turned his phone off and shoved it into his pocket.

The sunlight made Harry squint as he approached the park. There was a light breeze, and the chill air seemed to have persuaded most people that inside was a better place to be than out. There were people scattered here and there, but they were few and far between.

Louis stood under a large oak tree, his face half-hidden in shadow. Harry couldn’t read his expression, but even stony-faced he was beautiful enough to take Harry’s breath away. Whatever Louis wanted to say to him, Harry was just glad for the opportunity to see him.

He stopped some ten feet away, uncertain whether he ought to move closer. Louis’ face didn’t change, though he had to have seen him. They were both silent for a long minute.

Louis cracked first. “Hi,” he said.

Harry swallowed. “Hi.”

Louis crossed his arms over his chest, then uncrossed them. “I suppose I should thank you,” he said. “For saving my life.”

“I, um.” Harry wasn’t sure what to say. ‘Anytime’ didn’t quite seem appropriate, nor did ‘My pleasure.’ “Of course,” he said eventually.

Louis nodded. The silence descended again, heavy like a physical thing. Harry looked at the ground, twisting his shoe into a patch of clover.

“Why did you do it?” Louis asked.

Harry’s head jerked up. “What?”

“Why did you bother?” Louis’ eyes burned into him, and he looked almost agonized. “I’m a human – a Hunter – and you’re a vampire. Why did you save me?”

Harry was baffled. “What else could I do?” he asked. “I had to.”

Louis shook his head. “You really didn’t,” he said. “You could have walked away.”

“I couldn’t have,” Harry disagreed.

“Maybe not,” Louis said. “But you warned us. You gave us enough time to be prepared. Wasn’t that enough?”

“No,” Harry said. “Louis, I couldn’t-”

“Couldn’t what?” Louis’ voice was almost sharp, but it didn’t feel – it felt like broken glass, not like he was trying to hurt but like he was so fractured he didn’t know how else to be. Harry wanted to go to him, to touch him, to hold him and tell him it was okay.

“You would have died,” Harry said instead. “I couldn’t let that happen.”

“But-” Louis pressed his lips together. He took a deep breath. “Why? Why did it matter to you?”

Did he really not know? Harry couldn’t tell. Or maybe he knew, maybe he just needed to hear him say it.

Maybe Harry needed to say it. After all, it wasn’t like it could make things worse.

“I couldn’t let you die,” he said at last. “You mean too much – you matter too much to me. If I can’t have you in my life… I still want you happy. I still…” His voice dropped and he almost chickened out. “I still love you.”

Harry just caught the sound of Louis’ intake of breath. He almost laughed, even though it hurt. Or maybe because it hurt. Maybe feelings wrap around in the back, and so you cry when you’re happy and laugh when you’re sad.

Harry shook his head. “Stupid or not, I’m in love with you. That’s just – I just am.” He shrugged, trying not to look at Louis and failing completely. “I guess that’s irony for you.”

Louis was silent. His face moved, his expression changing like he was fighting an internal battle with himself. Harry wondered what was winning.

“I saw you,” Louis said at last. The words almost seemed to burst out of him, like if he didn’t say them right then he never would.

Harry didn’t understand. “What?”

“At the house,” Louis said. “During the attack. I was pretty out of it, but – I saw you when you came up the stairs.” His face crumpled slightly. Harry stepped forward, but Louis held up a hand to stop him. “And – when I did,” he said. “I felt – safe. I saw you and I knew it would be okay. I don’t know why, I don’t-”

He broke off, burying his face in his hands. Tears leaked between his fingers. Harry couldn’t stop himself anymore; he stepped forward and pulled Louis into a hug. Louis didn’t fight him, just buried his face in Harry’s jacket and sobbed.

“I hated myself for it,” he said at last, the words muffled but still distinctly audible. “I hated me, I hated you, I hated – fuck, Harry.”

“I’m sorry,” Harry said, and his chest ached at Louis’ words but it was worth it because Louis was here, however briefly.

“Don’t-” Louis’ voice was choked. “I don’t want – _fuck,_ Harry.”

“What?” Harry asked. “What is it Louis?”

“I don’t _know,_ ” Louis said. He lifted his head, wiping at his eyes and nose. “I just – I hate this, everything, and it hurts, and – I’m not even making any sense.”

Harry said nothing.

“I hate vampires,” Louis said. Harry tried not to wince. “It’s been who I am, what I do, for years now – almost as long as I can remember. They killed my family, Harry; they would have killed me if-”

“I know,” Harry said. “Charlotte told me.”

Louis nodded slowly. “She’s always been – she sees things differently. Jay too.” He took a shuddering breath. “I wish…” He shook his head. “I don’t even know.”

Harry swallowed. “What about you?” he asked. Keeping his voice level was a struggle. “How do you see things?”

Louis bit his lip. “I don’t know,” he said. “I was all Hunter, all hate, but – it’s not – it doesn’t fit anymore. Your friend, he helped, and he doesn’t even like me. And you-”

Louis cut himself off. Harry bit his tongue to keep from saying anything. At last Louis spoke. His voice was low and quiet, but Harry could hear every word.

“I’m in love with you,” he said. “I don’t know what to think – about vampires, about you – but I just – I’m in love with you.”

Harry had never wanted to kiss him so badly, but he didn’t move, waiting for Louis.

Louis glanced up at him. “Well?” he said, his voice cracking slightly. “Say something. Please.”

“What do you want?” Harry asked, his voice low.

Louis blinked. “I want – I don’t-” He shook his head. “I – you.”

He looked at Harry again, and Harry drew in a shuddering breath. Louis bit his lip, and then he was leaning up and he was kissing Harry and it was _perfect_ . It was everything Harry wanted and more. Louis’ lips were chapped, his cheeks were wet, but he tasted like home.

After a moment that was far too short, Harry lifted his hand to Louis’ cheek and broke the kiss. Louis’ face fell, just a little, and he pulled away from Harry.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You said – I thought you wanted – I’m sorry.”

“Louis,” Harry said, resting a hand on his shoulder. “I want to kiss you. I want to kiss you so badly it hurts, but – it’s not helpful, really.”

“It feels helpful,” Louis muttered, and Harry laughed. Louis flushed. “I didn’t-”

“I know,” Harry said. “But, like, that’s the problem, isn’t it? It muddles things. When I’m kissing you, all I can think about is how much I want to kiss you forever. But there are – other things, we need to resolve.”

Louis bit his lip. “Yeah,” he said. “You’re right.” He wrapped his arms around himself, sitting down on a park bench. “So what do we do?”

“That depends,” Harry said. “What do you want to do?”

Louis stared up at him for a long minute. Harry realized he was holding his breath, and let it out. He could almost see it condensing in the air, almost but not quite. A few more days.

“Sit down,” Louis said. “Please. I can’t – you’re too damn tall.”

Harry smiled and sat. Louis’ hand rested in the space between them. He sighed.

“I want to be with you,” he said. “My head is all over the map and I don’t know what to think, I don’t know anything, but-” He looked at Harry. “I love you. I’m in love with you and I want to be with you.”

“Do you think it’s feasible?” Harry asked. “I know you want it, but if it isn’t going to be possible – if you or the other Hunters or-”

“No,” Louis interrupted. “I – it should be okay. It should – yeah.” He licked his lips. “I want to try.”

There were probably a million reasons why it was a bad idea. There were probably two million ways it could all go terribly wrong. There were three million things they hadn’t discussed.

Harry couldn’t bring himself to care anymore. He wanted Louis and Louis wanted him, and in that moment he wanted it to be that simple.

Louis met him halfway and Harry couldn’t have said which one of them had moved first. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the warmth, the softness, the taste of Louis’ lips on his the way he’d feared he would never get to feel again. All that mattered was Louis’ hands pressing against his back, running along his face, tangling in his hair. All that mattered was right in front of him.


End file.
